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The Crisis in Beslan commences when armed terrorists take schoolchildren and school staff hostage in North Ossetia (Russia); by the end of the siege three days later more than 385 people are dead (including hostages, other civilians, security personnel and terrorists).
Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.
A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko.
Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes President of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah.
The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi).
The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h).
In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion.
Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerrillas, who attack his motorcade.
Trần Thiện Khiêm becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu.
The Khmer-Chinese Friendship Association is banned in Cambodia.
The first conference of the Non Aligned Countries is held in Belgrade.
The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.
Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, beginning the Cod Wars.
The Old Man and the Sea, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Hemingway, is first published.
The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people.
Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Armed Forces (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization).
The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date.
General George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.
The first Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated cartoon, The Discontented Canary, is released to movie theatres.
Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king.
The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.
The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.
The last known passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.
The armored cruiser Georgios Averof is commissioned into the Greek Navy. It now serves as a museum ship.
The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established.
The Tremont Street Subway in Boston opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.
Over 400 people die in the Great Hinckley Fire, a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota.
The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan is routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War
Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.
Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande.
Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.
American Civil War: The Confederate Army General John Bell Hood orders the evacuation of Atlanta, ending a four-month siege by General William Tecumseh Sherman.
American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly: Confederate Army troops defeat a group of retreating Union Army troops in Chantilly, Virginia.
Saint Andrew's Scots School, the oldest school of British origin in South America, is established.
Narcissa Whitman, one of the first English-speaking white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington.
The high honor of Order of St. Gregory the Great is established by Pope Gregory XVI of the Vatican State to recognize high support for the Vatican or for the Pope, by a man or a woman, and not necessarily a Roman Catholic.
Juno, one of the largest asteroids in the Main Belt, is discovered by the German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.
Massachusetts Bay colonists rise up in the bloodless Powder Alarm.
The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy's plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow
King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years, which is the longest of any major European monarch.
Battle of Tippermuir: James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeats the Earl of Wemyss's Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause.
Adi Granth, now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, was first installed at Harmandir Sahib.
Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England.
The Spanish fort of Sancti Spiritu, the first one built in modern Argentina, is destroyed by natives.
King Tvrtko I of Bosnia writes In castro nostro Vizoka vocatum from the Old town of Visoki.
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